Newman Government’s Unfunded Policy Will Hurt Rural And Remote Schools

Media Release.

Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk says the Newman Government’s unfunded $535 million education policy announced on Monday threatens to destroy rural and remote schools in Queensland.

“A day after the LNP’s latest cut-and-paste policy was released Treasurer Tim Nicholls could still not say where he was going to find more than half a billion dollars to fund it,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

What’s worse, the Newman Government’s model will jeopardise the current teacher transfer system, making it impossible to attract principals and teachers to schools in rural and remote communities.

This shows how poorly planned the LNP’s education policy is, but what could we expect if it is lifted from NSW —  a state far less decentralised than our own.

“It also shows just how little regard the Newman Government has for rural and remote communities.”

While in Townsville tomorrow Ms Palaszczuk will discuss how the LNP changes will affect the 89 state primary and high schools throughout North Queensland.

“The policy plans to give ‘all schools the chance to become independent’, meaning they can ‘determine their own staffing profiles’,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

If every school in Queensland is to become an independent school in charge of their own teacher recruitment, the teacher transfer system will simply fall over.

The Newman Government needs to explain how it plans to attract teachers to rural, remote, and indigenous communities without a teacher transfer system — especially to smaller schools that make more than 30% of schools in North Queensland.

There will simply be no incentive for teachers to relocate to remote communities, jeopardising the future of some of Queensland’s most isolated schools.

“This is another Newman Government policy which hits rural and remote communities the hardest,” she said.

Ms Palaszczuk said having school principals on individual contracts and performance pay also meant principals would not go to disadvantaged, regional, rural or indigenous schools.

“The Newman Government’s education policy will benefit big city schools at the detriment of school children in the bush,” she said.

Students learning in remote and indigenous communities are already facing enough challenges without the Newman Government’s education policy widening the gap between bush kids and city kids.

This looks like another policy thought-bubble from the Newman Government and demonstrates that they would prefer to play political games than stand up for the interests of all Queensland students.

"The Premier and Education Minister need to explain to the people of rural and remote Queensland how they plan on attracting teachers and principals to the bush under their new education model,” she said.